How I Became an Expat — Discovering Schengen

What is Schengen?

Schengen is the name for a region comprised, currently, of 26 European countries. And an agreement between these countries. In principle, it’s all about border control. It is a headache for those dreaming of living in France without commitment. And commitment is what distinguishes a true expat from just a dilettante.

The concept of Schengen is tied to the creation of the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement, the second of which most Americans have only recently started hearing about as a result of the Brexit mess. Schengen, a third concept, started taking shape in 1985, but didn’t go into full force until 1995. This is why, when I decided on the spur of the moment to move to Europe, in 2015, it came as a complete surprise.

Life Before Schengen

When I lived in Europe in the early 1970’s, late 1980’s and early 1990’s, respectively, borders between every country were strictly monitored. The EU didn’t exist, but lots of pretty different currencies did. And with the American blue passport, you were granted a welcoming proverbial hug and waved through border crossings with ease. You could galavant around the continent without thought of time limits or the need for visas. Twenty years later, things are different.

I had been spoiled with my previous power and access as an American, taking it entirely for granted. (I’ll touch on the arrogance of that statement at a later date.) When I went to purchase my open-ended ticket to Europe in August of 2015, so I could bounce around until…well, really, until I got my shit together and decided what next to do with my life —whether I wanted to be a true nomad or settle down and, if the later, where — imagine my surprise. The little Schengen thing blew that idea out of the water.

Schengen and Border Crossings

Americans don’t really think often about the political and economic significance of the EU unless they’re wonks or pundits. So, I’ll give you a super simplified, mostly accurate breakdown — primarily applicable to those with a general American education. The EU is a political and economic union of independent countries. It is not, itself, a country. (I wish that was not news but, alas, it surprises some of my countrymen.)

The EU created a single market for its member states. The creation of that single market is, arguably, responsible for catapulting the continent fully past the protracted recovery period stemming from World War II (because, yes, vestiges of it were still present in the early ’80’s). It also gets credit for diluting extreme nationalism (another topic to touch on some other day) and for promoting trade among member states.

But, while everyone can eventually agree on political principals to avoid a World War III (we hope), it’s much more complicated to agree on sharing profits. So EEA was formed, with a slightly modified number of puzzle pieces (countries) in the mix, to set parameters for free trade. However, the free trade piece means lots of border traffic. And not everyone in the EU or the EEA was entirely trusting of everyone else, specifically when it came to who they might want visiting them. Or how they would monitor those visitors.

So, we got Schengen.

Life After Schengen

Schengen provides for the removal of border controls amongst its member states. More interesting to the potential American wanting to live abroad, it creates a common visa policy. Prior to the agreement, Americans could go from one European country to another — living a few months here, a few months there — pretty much indefinitely. And stay on the friendly side of the law. That is no longer the case.

Now, the time you spend in one country in the Schengen area, without a visa, counts toward your total time permitted for the entire region. You can no longer just cross into another country willy-nilly to reboot your time window. And it you want to stay longer, or come back sooner, you will need that visa.

So, how long do you have to live abroad without commitment?

Ninety Days

You can be in the Schengen for 90 days without a visa. But not just any 90 days. It’s actually 90 days in any 180 days. And they don’t have to be consecutive days. So, as an example, you could spend May in Paris, head back to the States for the summer, and return in September for two months. But then you would have to leave the entire region for a month, at which time you could come back, but for only a month. And the math gymnastics continues on from there.

Some Americans play this game, and loudly proclaim they “live in Paris.” But they’re confusing an affair for marriage. So decide on the relationship you want before listening to their advice on what it’s like.

In my case, I blew my three months in one go — two of them spent in Paris (with a week dash to Italy, timed fortuitously for the week of November 13) and a middle interval in Norway.

So, if I wanted to live in Paris, really live here, I had to get a visa. I’ll get into that adventure in the next part of this How I Became an Expat series.